Ocean-like Understanding

IRENAEUS

“Why do you believe in Heaven?”
“Because the Bible tells me it exists.”
“How do you know that divorce/homosexuality is wrong?”
“Because the Bible tells me it is.”
“Why do you believe what the Bible says?”
“Because the Bible tells me to.”

Enter in: A long discussed dilemma of the Christian faith. When we must give reasons for our various beliefs, we often reference the Bible. Yet, the authority of the Bible to dictate our beliefs comes from the Bible. This reasoning seems, and is, circular. It also raises others complications: What if the Bible was mistranslated? What if different books were included in the Canon? Wouldn’t that make Christianity subject to change, and so shouldn’t you be less confident in your beliefs?

As I mentioned, this question is not new. Consider how especially difficult these concerns would have been in the earliest years of Christianity – when there was no canon. A Christian still would have had to defend his or her beliefs, and would have wanted to know their foundation.

Irenaeus, who lived from 140 – 203, was one of the earliest Christian theologians. In his work “The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching”, he explicates the foundations and various workings of the Christian faith. He did not have a canon to work off, and did not have a creed to refer to. So how did he assert over 50 pages of doctrine?

Irenaeus’ first assertion of truth was not biblically based. Rather, he says, “it is necessary that, things that are made should have the beginning of their making from some great cause; and the beginning of all things is God” (sct. 4). He notices the world around him, and by his reason realizes that someone had to precede everything created. He formulates the following assertion from this: “And therefore it is right first of all to believe that there is One God, the Father, who made and fashioned all things, and made what was not that it should be, and who, containing all things, alone is uncontained” (4).

His next observation of God is not so naturally inferred: “And, since God is rational, therefore by the Word He created the things that were made; and God is Spirit, and by the Spirit He adorned all things…” (5). Irenaeus is here referring to the doctrine of the trinity, and as if to show that this is not understandable by reason alone, he follows with a verse from scripture: “…as also the prophet says: By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and by his spirit all their power” (5).

Though Irenaeus begins his collection of doctrine with reasonable deduction and observation, the overwhelming majority of his work is held together by threads of scripture. He does not strive to understand Christianity independent of outside resources, yet neither does he toss around verses lightly. Rather, he brilliantly cross references, knitting together history and prophecy to illuminate the work of Christ.

Here is what I think can be drawn from Irenaeus: A person may understand that God exists by natural deduction, but this is like looking at the ocean from the beach. You see the blueness, but you cannot know how cold it is or how the tide pulls the sand from under your toes. You smell the salt, but you have no idea how far it is to the first iceberg, or how brilliantly the fish and coral are colored. If you want to swim in the ocean, to begin to plunge into its depths – if you want to progress any farther in an understanding of God, you cannot stand on the shore of your own reason and experience. Instead, you must be willing to believe and depend on God’s words, which He has revealed in the Bible.